When I was at the Victorian Stroll, I mentioned to my friend that I’d wanted to make a new gown for the Jane Austen Tea the following weekend. I hadn’t gotten to it, and it felt like I’d run out of time.

She casually replied something like, “Well, Regency gowns aren’t too difficult.”

She was right. I’ve made more dresses from that time period than any other. I have pattern pieces that already fit and a good method of construction, both of which reduces the mental load required to make it.

Her comment unlocked a part of my brain that was stuck. By the next day, I had already started cutting and tracing the pattern pieces for the bodice.

I mentioned recently that I’ve hard a hard time being ok with making the same thing over and over again in different fabrics. The internal narrative has to do with me being lazy or uninspired.

I’ve realized that when I get too wild with my design choices, I end up with makes I don’t like and don’t wear. Instead, this time I kept it simple with Simplicity 8941, my old standby. I’d had the plum and white plaid fabric for the dress since last fall.This is the first time I made this pattern with long sleeves. My arms are average length, but the sleeves came out too short. I’m a little annoyed with the pattern designers. I expect to adjust the width to fit my arms, but not the length. I don’t know what I’m going to do about it, if anything. It’s a cautionary tale about making muslins (or not) and a tip for anyone else making the dress.

The only change I made to the pattern was to lengthen the back bodice. I added about an inch and a half to the lower edge of the back pattern pieces. I had trouble figuring out how to get the curved seams to line back up, but once that was sorted out, I was really pleased with the results. In this dress, it doesn’t feel like someone took me and hung me up from a hook on the castle wall, if that makes sense.

I cut the skirt pieces a little too short. I knew it as I was cutting, and I still did it. I am already working on a pleated self-trim to add to the hem to get it to the length I wanted. That’s nine feet of trim, so it’s going to take some time. I have about a third of it finished so far.The lightweight cotton I used is wonderful to wear, but shifty to cut and sew. That made the pattern matching difficult, especially on the side seams of the skirt. Fortunately, it’s not obvious because of the gathering. I matched the sleeves patterns to each other and lined up the plaid on front bodice pieces. I had to cut one side of the bodice out a second time, but it was worth it.

I wore my regular underpinnings, with new, bigger stays I made for the Jane Austen retreat over the summer. They’re beautiful, and I’ve never done a post on them. They have some fit issues, but they work, which is more than I can say for my old ones. I wore a chemisette I finished over the summer.

I was hoping to wear a keffiyeh* for my turban, but the order hadn’t arrived, so I used one of the cotton scarves I already had. I added my giant muff, a reticule (with a new, matching tassel), a parasol, a shawl, and a necklace.

I worked on the gown a little each day the week before the tea, in between my other responsibilities. By Friday, I’d made good progress, but still had some serious work to do. I worked till midnight Friday night. I woke up at six Saturday morning, and worked until midnight again. I woke up early Sunday morning, and worked until I absolutely had to stop to get dressed and leave for the tea. I had just finished hemming the sleeves.

I was a few minutes late to the tea. I arrived flustered and completely exhausted, which must have been all over my face when I walked in. Throughout the afternoon, my costuming friend and the planner of the tea kept coming over and asking me if I was having fun and if I was OK.It was hard to enjoy the event, because I just didn’t have any spoons left. I don’t like tea bags and hadn’t had time to pack my own powdered chai latte mix to bring from home. I mean to take my own tea along every year and never do. A kind waiter hunted around and found a packet of hot chocolate for me.

At my table, the small talk wandered to the business practices of Amazon and Walmart, but I was too cowardly to mention the reason I had cancelled my Amazon account wasn’t just because of the way Amazon treats their workers in the U.S., but because Amazon is supporting the genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli occupation.

I’m glad I made the dress. It’s been on my list for ages and it turned out really well. I wish I hadn’t been in such a knot about starting it. Technically, I could have been working on it any time in the past year after buying the fabric, but I … couldn’t, for whatever reason.

So it was a mad dash instead, and now I can slowly make the alterations I want so I can hang it in the closet ready for its next outing.

*I ordered several keffiyehs from Palestine, and one from Brooklyn so it would get here faster, but it didn’t make it in time.